FINAL: Royals 13, Red Sox 2 - James Paxton and Brandon Walter lit up in worst loss yet

WHO: Red Sox (69-65) at Royals (41-94) 
WHEN: 8:10 p.m. 
WHERE: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City. 
SERIES TO DATE: Boston leads, 3-1. 
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Jordan Lyles (3-15, 6.51 ERA) vs. LHP James Paxton (7-4, 3.99 ERA) 
TV/RADIO: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUP

RED SOX 

Verdugo RF
Devers 3B 
Turner DH 
Casas 1B
Duvall CF
Yoshida LF 
Story SS
Urías 2B 
Wong C
Paxton SP 

ROYALS

Garcia 3B 
Witt Jr. SS
Perez 1B
Massey 2B
Fermin C
Velázquez LF 
Waters RF
Loftin DH 
Isbel CF 
Lyles SP 

PRE-GAME NOTES 

The Red Sox recalled LHP Brandon Walter and INF Enmanuel Valdez from Triple-A Worcester with Major League rosters expanding to 28 players beginning today through the end of the season. Boston optioned IF David Hamilton. Both OF Wilyer Abreu, reinstated from paternity leave, and OF Ceddanne Rafaela remain with the big league Red Sox. The team's array of call-ups will start the game on the bench, despite Boston sitting 6.5 games back of Texas in the wild card race.

Alex Cora said in Kansas City pre-game that Trevor Story will play shortstop for the rest of the year with no limitations. Rafaela could pair alongside him in some games at second base given his experience, though more likely in workouts. Valdez will receive a start at 2B during the Royals series. 

WHAT'S UP 

The Red Sox have lost 4 consecutive games, and 5 of their last 6...They have only lost 5 straight games once this season, from 6/24-29...The Sox are 13-18 in their last 31 games, beginning 7/29, after going an MLB-best 16-5 from 6/30-7/28... At 69-65 (.515), Boston is tied with Arizona and Minnesota for MLB’s 13th-best record...The Sox won 3 of the 4 games played vs. the Royals at Fenway Park from 8/7-10...Boston is 8-5 at Kauffman Stadium since the start of 2018, but have lost each of the last 2 series played at the venue...The Red Sox went 3-4 against Kansas City in 2022...They Are 22-9 vs. the Royals since the start of 2018...With at least one win in the 3-game series, Boston would secure the season series vs. KC for the 5th time in the last 6 years (since 2018)...The Red Sox are 1-0-1 in their last 2 road series (3-0 at NYY, 2-2 at HOU) after losing each of their previous 4 since 7/17-19...At 22-18-3 in series play overall, they’ve matched their series win total from 2022 (22-24-6)...At 9-9-3 on the road, they’re one series shy of tying their 2022 road series win total (10-14-2)....Boston has 9 series left to play in 2023, 5 on the road...Alex Cora (431 wins) is 1 victory shy of matching John Farrell (432) for 6th place on the Red Sox’ all-time managerial wins list...The only people to manage 500+ Red Sox games and post a better winning percentage than Cora’s .551 mark are Don Zimmer (.575) and Terry Francona (.574)....Wednesday concluded the Red Sox’ stretch of 16 consecutive days with a game, going 7-9 over that span...It also completed a stretch of 32 games in 34 days (7/28-8/30)... The Sox begin a 6-game road trip today (3 at KC, 3 at TB).... There are only 3 off-days remaining on their schedule (9/7, 9/21, and 9/25)...The Sox will play 28 games in 31 days to finish out the season...In his last 10 games, Adam Duvall has hit .462 (18-for-39) with a 1.154 SLG, 1.666 OPS, 6 doubles, 7 HR, 9 runs scored and 15 RBI...He leads AL players during that span in doubles, HR, XBH, SLG, and OPS, is tied for 1st in hits and RBI, and ranks 2nd in AVG (min. 30 AB)...Duvall’s 13 XBH in that span are the most by an AL player in any 10-game span this season...He’s the 3rd Red Sox player to hit a HR in 7 games of a single-season 9-game span (see below)....He was named AL Player of the Week on Monday, the 2nd time in his career he’s won the award (also 4/3)...LHP James Paxton has allowed 10 ER in his last 2 starts (8.1 IP, 10.80 ERA), after giving up only 9 ER in his previous 5 (27.1 IP, 2.96 ERA)....Owns a 3.16 ERA at home (15 ER/42.2 IP) and a 4.67 ERA on the road (27 ER/52.0 IP)....In 10 career starts vs. the Royals, is 4-0 with a 1.51 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, and only 1 HRallowed (47.2 IP, 8 ER, 59 SO, 6 BB)....Among the 355 pitchers to make at least 8 starts vs. KC all time, Paxton ranks 1st in ERA (1.51), WHIP (0.90), and SO/BB ratio (9.83)....Has allowed 0 runs in his last 21.1 IP against the Royals, spanning 4 starts...In 4 starts at Kauffman Stadium, is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA (21.1 IP, 8 ER, 20 SO, 3 BB)...